Tag: MMA news

MMA Fanhouse has confirmed that Edith Labelle — you know, the large-chested Octagon Girl who’s not Arianny or Logan — won’t be holding round cards and blowing kisses to the camera during UFC broadcasts anymore. Her manager was quoted as saying "Something happened, but at this time, I can only confirm that Edith no longer works for the UFC." Considering the rumors that swirled aroundAmber Nichole Miller‘s departure, that "something" could be nothing, or that something could be something; feel free to speculate wildly in the comments section below. Edith will be officially replaced by Maxim Octagon Girl Search winner Natasha Wicks at UFC 101 tomorrow night in Philadelphia.

Edith Labelle (born June 30, 1982), aka Edith Larente, made her debut as a UFC Octagon Girl in November 2007, but was released by the company after falling ill at UFC 100 in July 2009. Hailing from Mont-Laurier, Quebec, Edith Labelle worked as a semi-nude model before joining the UFC, and was best known as "Anabelle" from FlashyBabes.com. Outside of her appearance in a low-budget sci-fi movie in 2009, we have no idea what Edith’s been up to since leaving the UFC.

According to Graciemag.com, Brazilian middleweight standout Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza has signed a multi-fight deal with Strikeforce, and will make his debut at an October 25th event in Fresno, California — reportedly the same event that will see Fedor Emelianenko‘s Strikeforce debut. Souza has spent the last five fights of his career competing for DREAM in Japan, where he made it to the finals of their middleweight grand prix before succumbing to a Gegard Mousasi upkick, and had two contentious fights with Jason Miller. After their last match ended in a no-contest due to an illegal kick, Jacare and Mayhem were scheduled to fight for a third time at DREAM.11 (October 6th, Yokohama) for DREAM’s middleweight belt. It’s unclear if that fight will still be happening, though Japan MMA hears a rumor that Paulo Filho will be stepping in for Souza against Miller.

Souza’s Strikeforce signing is particularly interesting because Scott Coker recently announced that Jake Shields will fight for the organization’s interim middleweight title in October. Shields’s opponent hasn’t yet been announced, and Souza’s first opponent hasn’t been named either. You don’t have to be a genius to figure this one out. The winner of the interim middleweight title fight will face Cung Le whenever Le feels like taking a break from his action movie career and stepping back into the cage.

Kokuho expressed skepticism over the handling of [Barnett's] test samples by the California State Athletic Commission. Citing Kazuhiro Nakamura’s three-month suspension by the CSAC in September 2007 for a positive marijuana test, Kokuho said Nakamura’s protest and ensuing request to be retested using hair samples were denied. The encounter, according to Kokuho, left him wary of CSAC drug testing procedure. However, Kokuho said he plans to subject Barnett to drug testing before his November appearance with the promotion.

Strikeforce and DREAM are expected to announce a partnership shortly that could see an exchange of fighters between the two promotions. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker revealed Monday night in a radio appearance on The Carmichael Dave Show that the No. 2 MMA promotion in America will enter into an "alliance" with Fighting Entertainment Group, the parent company of the No. 1 MMA promotion in Japan…

"We’ve talked about [the partnership] for a long time," Coker said. "It’s finally going to happen now so maybe [Sergei] Kharitonov could fight Fedor at some point."

Ben Rothwell hasn’t even had his first UFC fight yet, but he’s already got his eye on the UFC heavyweight title. He even has a little insight about the man who holds it, and how best to go about taking it from him.

“[Fedor] and Alistair Overeem should be an amazing fight, and people that haven’t seen Alistair, you know, he’s an amazing fighter. I think we should do a couple of fights and build that one up, and then let their champion fight our champion, and let’s see what happens…We’re hoping that Alistair will be ready to fight in the Fall, and we can put him on one of the cards with Fedor, and not fight against each other but fight against someone else, and let’s build that fight up”

Though Dana White was hoping he could announce the signing of Fedor Emelianenko at this afternoon’s much-anticipated UFC press conference, it was not meant to be. DW said he did everything he could possibly do to get Emelianenko into the Octagon and offered him an "amazing" deal, but M-1′s dogged desire for co-promotion sunk the negotiations, which made Dana "fucking miserable." Still, there were some major announcements to share, which are sure to get MMA fans talking: